Off the wire
• Urgent: Crude prices extend rally on signs of slowing production  • (Recast)Urgent: Gold down slightly on profit-taking  • South Sudan warring parties sign cease-fire agreement  • Netanyahu gaining strength ahead of March elections: poll  • Urgent: U.S. dollar falls on downbeat data  • Putin urges all sides in Ukraine to end military hostilities  • ECB foreign exchange reference rates of Euro to other currencies  • Iran condemns attack on Shiite pilgrims in Syria  • Belarusian president to visit Georgia in April  • Roundup: German benchmark DAX index hits new all-time high  
You are here: 　 Home

Nigerian schools to remain in session during polls: minister

Xinhua, February 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

All public and private primary, secondary as well as tertiary institutions in Nigeria, will remain in session during the 2015 general elections, Minister of Education Ibrahim Shekarau said on Monday.

The minister disclosed this while briefing newsmen after a meeting with Commissioners of Education from the 36 states of the federation in Abuja.

He said there were no compelling reasons to close schools as efforts were being made to provide adequate security during the elections.

"All schools and institutions should remain in session while elections go on; most of our schools are half-way into the second term of the school calendar; we lost a lot during the Ebola crisis and most schools are trying to catch up," the minister added.

Shekarau urged parents not to work on rumors and expressed optimism that the elections would be conducted without violence or threat to life.

He said parents should realize that they send their children to school in trust that they would be protected.

Nigeria's electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission, has fixed Feb. 14 and Feb. 28, 2015 for the presidential and governorship elections respectively. Endi